Microsoft to ship developer HoloLens for $3,000 in March

Mon., Feb. 29, 2016, 8:07 a.m.

In this Jan. 21, 2015, file photo, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, left, smiles as he tries on a HoloLens device with colleagues Alex Kipman, right, and Terry Myerson following an event demonstrating new features of Windows 10 at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

Microsoft says it will start shipping a developer version of its augmented reality device, HoloLens, for $3,000 on March 30.

That’s around the same time Facebook’s Oculus will begin shipping the consumer version of its Rift virtual-reality headset for $600. HoloLens differs from the Oculus Rift in that it makes the viewer see three-dimensional objects in the real world, rather than blocking out the real and replacing it with a 360-degree fictional universe.

The HoloLens operates on Windows 10 and unlike the Rift, requires no tethering to a separate computer.

It’ll use a custom-built chip designed on an Intel platform. It’ll let users record high-definition video that recreates a mix of holographs overlaid on the real world that can be shared with people without the device.